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Topic: "Come On, How Much?" (Read 5127 times)

In my office, bosses give Christmas gifts to their assistants. But every boss is different and each assistant gets something different – one may get season tickets to a professional sports team while another may get a basket of bruised fruit that is obviously a re-gift. It runs the gamut.

I received my usual gift card and was VERY grateful for the amount this year. I thanked my boss and his team and put the card in my purse and went about my work.

Two coworkers came by and asked what I got. I hesitated and told them a gift card. They asked “for how much”. It felt to me they were asking a personal question, almost like asking how much I make a year. I told them I didn’t want to say. CW1 said, “oooh, that much huh, come on, how much was the card?” I said I wouldn’t discuss it and bean-dipped about the holiday cookies that were in the kitchen. CW2 said, “fine, be that way” and stormed off. CW1 whispered, “you can tell me later, I want to know” and she walked off. An hour later, I get an email from CW1 asking again how much was the card and did I want to share. She said she was just kidding about the share part, but still wanted to know how much. I never responded.

That was the day I left for vacation and am back today hoping the fascination with my gift card has subsided.

Definitely rude. Evilsiamesecat would be tempted to say "$1 or $10,000" but that's why she stays in her cage most of the time . I've had people ask me before how much things cost, or how much the gift card was. The only time I've ever come close to ansewring was the year my cousin gave me a very generous Amazon gc, which allowed me to buy my Kindle pretty much outright, and I just said "it was very generous" But that was family; a CW I wouldnt even bother saying taht to.

I think you could have forestalled them by laughing it off the first time they asked in an "Are you seriously asking me about this?" sort of way. I think they were emboldened by your serious response and think that you are being silly about something simple. They are very wrong to ask at all, and beyond wrong to continue in pestering you this way. I really like the Dr. Evil impersonation idea